Davidson 96, Georgia Southern 74
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Davidson starting big men Jake Cohen and De'Mon Brooks combined to score 53 points and shoot 82 percent from the floor to lead Davidson to a 96-74 Southern Conference men's basketball victory over Georgia Southern in Belk Arena Saturday afternoon.
Cohen finished with career highs of 29 points and 12 rebounds and missed just two shots on the afternoon - one from the field and one from the free-throw line. Brooks was 10-of-13 from the floor and made a pair of free throws for 24 points.
Cohen was 'Mr. First Half' for the Wildcats (10-4, 4-0 SoCon), scoring 24 points, and Brooks was 'Mr. Second Half,' scoring 21.
Chris Czerapowicz came off the bench to post 12 points and four rebounds, and Nik Cochran tallied nine points and five assists. Tom Droney added eight points.
Davidson shot a season-high 60 percent from the floor, including 63 percent in the first frame, and nailed 11-of-19 3-point tries. The 'Cats had 21 assists on 33 made buckets.
Eric Ferguson scored 20 points for the Eagles (5-9, 3-1 SoCon), and Ben Drayton tallied 13 points and eight assists. Jelani Hewitt scored 11, and Tyrone Brown netted eight.
Davidson jumped out to a 14-3 cushion to start the game as Cohen scored seven during the stretch. The margin grew from 10 points to a 25-7 cushion midway through the half when the Wildcats scored eight straight points on 3-pointers from Tyler Kalinoski and Czerapowicz and a jumper by Cohen.
Davidson hit five of its first six 3-point attempts in the contest.
The margin grew to 24 points in the first half on a Kalinoski triple with 41 seconds left in the frame. Davidson pushed the margin to as many as 29 in the second half, and the lead never dipped below 20 points.
College of Charleston 66, Furman 43
GREENVILLE, S.C. - College of Charleston forced Furman into a season-high 23 turnovers and used a 15-0 second half run to race past the Paladins, 66-43, in Southern Conference men's basketball action before a crowd of 2,101 on Saturday afternoon on YP.com Court at Timmons Arena.
The Cougars, who improved to 11-4 overall and 3-1 in the SoCon, held Furman to a season-low points total and just 29.6 percent shooting from the field while turning the Paladins' rash of turnovers into 27 points. Furman dropped its ninth straight game against the Cougars while slipping to 7-8 overall and 1-3 in league play.
The Paladins trailed just 38-34 after Bryant Irwin drained a trey with 10:33 remaining, but the Cougars reeled off 15 straight points, including seven from Matt Sundberg, to open up a 53-34 advantage on Antwaine Wiggins basket with 6:29 to play. The run helped Charleston outscore the Paladins 28-9 over the final 10:14 and pull away for its 28th victory in its last 31 contests versus Furman.
After Furman managed a quick 6-5 lead in the opening minutes of the first half, the Cougars fashioned a 14-2 spurt behind four consecutive baskets from guard Anthony Stitt to pull in front for good and hold a 19-8 edge. The Paladins trimmed the margin to 30-22 at the break and got the deficit inside five points on several occasions before the Cougars held Furman scoreless for over four minutes and limited them to only three made field goals over the final 10:30 of the game.
Charleston shot 51.1 percent from the floor despite making only 3-of-15 three-point attempts. Freshman Adjehi Baru and Stitt led the Cougars with 14 points apiece while Wiggins added 10 points and recorded three of CofC's 12 steals.
Charlie Reddick paced the Paladins with 11 points and twin brother Colin Reddick grabbed a game-high nine rebounds. Furman connected on just 16-of-54 field goal attempts, including only 4-of-22 from three-point range, and was outscored 30-18 in the paint. The Paladins out-rebounded Charleston 44-30, but managed just a 9-7 edge in second chance points despite 19 offensive rebounds.
Western Carolina 67, Wofford 57
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Keaton Cole matched his career-high with six made 3-pointers, pacing four Catamounts in double figures as Western Carolina downed the Wofford Terriers, 67-57, on Saturday afternoon in Southern Conference action in the Ramsey Center.
The win halted a two-game slide for the Catamounts, while also ending Wofford's two-game win streak which included victories at Wake Forest and over South Division favorite, the College of Charleston.
Cole's six made 3-pointers - four coming in the first half - were all the Catamounts would get on 6-of-13 (.462) shooting from beyond the arc. Cole added four free throws for a career-best 22 points while redshirt sophomore Trey Sumler chipped in a dozen wit eight defensive rebounds and four assists.
Harouna Mutombo and Preston Ross scored 11 and 10, respectively, while Brandon Boggs just missed double figures with nine points, adding four boards with sophomore Tawaski King pulling down nine rebounds to pace the Catamounts on the afternoon.
Western Carolina (8-8, 3-1 SoCon) never trailed on Saturday afternoon and led for all but 27 seconds after Wofford's Karl Cochran tied the game with a 3-pointer just two minutes into Saturday's contest. The Catamounts built a double-digit lead at 10 points, 19-9, midway through the opening stanza. Cole's fourth trey of the opening half handed WCU a nine-point edge with seven to play before intermission, carrying an eight-point, 34-26, edge into halftime.
WCU pulled out to a 12-point lead after back-to-back slam dunks from Ross and Mutombo inside the opening moments of the second half. But the Terriers used a 9-to-1 spurt to claw back within three, 41-38, on a steal and slam by Cochran.
The Catamounts were able to put the clamps on the Terrier run and rebuild a double-digit edge, matching its game-high lead of 12 points, 55-43, on a Mutombo jumper with seven minutes remaining in regulation. Wofford was only able to get within five points down the stretch as the Catamounts connected on 8-of-11 from the charity stripe to score the victory.
Wofford (9-7, 2-2 SoCon) put two players in double figures as Cochran and Brad Loesing both scored 20 points. Kevin Giltner scored eight points on just 3-of-14 shooting with just two other Terriers scoring in the loss.
Despite being outrebounded by four, 38-to-34, the Catamounts outscored the Terriers in the paint, 30-16.
The Citadel 73, Samford 62
CHARLESTON, S.C. --- The Samford University basketball team could never find an offensive rhythm Saturday as the Bulldogs dropped a 73-62 decision on the road against The Citadel Bulldogs in a Southern Conference matchup held in front of 1,023 fans at McAlister Field House.
Samford (3-11, 0-3 SoCon) finished the game with a 43.1-percent shooting performance from the field, but only connected on 7-of-29 attempts (24.1 percent) from 3-point range. The Citadel (4-11, 1-3 SoCon) shot a sizzling 56.5 percent from the field and turned in a 42.9-percent outing from beyond the arc. The Cadets' shooting performance was their best of the 2011-12 campaign.
With the win, The Citadel extended its winning streak against the Bulldogs to five straight games. Samford will next be in action Thursday as it continues its two-game road swing at Georgia Southern.
Samford was led in scoring Saturday by sophomore center Drew Windler's 16 points on 6-of-15 shooting from the field. The Bulldogs' native of South Milwaukee, Wis., also finished with three rebounds and an assist. Samford also received 13 points from sophomore Will Cook and 10 points from redshirt freshman Tyler Hood.
Hood, the Bulldogs' 6-foot-6 forward from Kingston, Tenn., shot 5-of-9 from the field and pulled down five rebounds.
The Citadel concluded the game with four players scoring in double figures. Center Mike Groselle turned in a perfect 10-for-10 performance from the field and finished with a game-high 25 points. The Cadets' native of Plano, Texas, also grabbed seven rebounds.
Rounding out the scoring for The Citadel was Cosmo Morabbi (20), DeVontae Wright (12) and Ashton Moore (10). Morabbi's total proved to be a career-high for the 6-foot-2 senior guard from Beverly Hills, Calif.
The Cadets shot a sizzling 60.9 percent from the floor in the opening half and took a 36-29 advantage into the locker room. The Citadel jumped out to a quick 10-6 lead and extended its advantage to 23-13 at the 10:27 mark in the period.
Midway through the first half, Samford used an 8-0 run to trim The Citadel's lead to 23-21 with 6:31 to play. During the Bulldogs' rally, true freshman Brandon Hayman knocked down a jumper in the lane before Windler tallied the next six points for Samford.
Windler led the Bulldogs with 10 points on 4-of-9 shooting in the opening half, while Hood followed with eight points on 4-of-6 shooting, including a 10-foot fade-away putback at the halftime buzzer.
The Citadel was led in scoring by Groselle in opening 20 minutes of play. The Cadets' 6-foot-7 junior turned in a perfect shooting performance in the first half as he finished 3-of-3 from the field and 3-of-3 from the free-throw line. Morabbi added eight points for The Citadel, while Moore chipped in with seven.
Samford turned in a decent 41.4-percent shooting performance in the first half, but the Bulldogs' total was dwarfed by The Citadel's season-high 60.9-percent outing. Samford was only 2-of-12 from beyond the arc in the opening period, while the Cadets finished the session 3-of-8.
In the second half of play, the Bulldogs were unable to string many baskets together and couldn't get within seven points at any point in the final 20 minutes of action.
Samford out-rebounded The Citadel 38-28 and only committed 11 turnovers as compared to 12 from the Cadets. The Bulldogs also led in second-chance points, 18-7, and bench scoring, 17-4.
Chattanooga 65, Appalachian State 63
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- Dontay Hampton's coast-to-coast layup with 0.8 to play provided the Chattanooga Mocs (8-9/2-2) with a 65-63 win over visiting Appalachian State (6-8/2-2) Saturday night. It capped a 12-point second half comeback for UTC and a big Southern Conference North Division win.
Z. Mason tied the game at 63 with two free throws at the 38-second mark adding to the Mocs 14-4 run beginning with just over six minutes to play. Mason forced ASU's Omar Carter to take a three-pointer with seven seconds to go that was boarded by Hampton.
He sprinted through the defense weaving through two Mountaineers near mid-court. Challenged at the basket, Hampton's running layup was true. ASU tried a desperation shot from the backcourt which was off.
Ricky Taylor led Chattanooga with 19 points on the night. Jahmal Burroughs tied career highs with 11 points and eight rebounds, while Drazen Zlovaric added 11 points and seven boards.
The Mountaineers' Tab Hamilton led all scorers with 22 including six-for-11 from three-point range. Carter chipped in 19 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
It was a see-saw affair with 10 ties and 10 lead changes. More so in the first half as ASU took a 34-33 lead into intermission. It went up 12, 52-40 at 13:17, on Hamilton's final basket of the night. The lead was 10, 59-49, on Carter's jumper at 7:40.
The Mocs scored the next seven points to get within three, 59-56, on two Zlovaric free throws at 4:13. They made it a 9-1 run on two Hampton free throws at 2:24, while holding App State without a field goal for more than five minutes.
Carter ended the drought with a layup and free throw at 2:13 to make it a five-point contest, 63-58. But UTC was not to be denied.
Keegan Bell shook off a cold shooting night with a three-pointer just 11 seconds later for a 63-61 score with 2:02 to go. That set up Mason and Hampton with the final tallies on the score sheet.
Bell had seven assists against just one turnover as the Mocs played without All-SoCon performer Omar Wattad who was out with a back injury. Without the league's three-point ace, Chattanooga out-scored its visitors 36-24 in the paint with the bench posting a 17-2 advantage in scoring.
Hampton and Mason combined for 13 points and 13 rebounds to lead the reserves. Hampton's seven rebounds are a career high.